30 Days of Sound, #8

I played more with the Mellotron sound! I made a melody and imported the sample again for chords, but then Flip erased my melody track. Although, I actually like the chords better on their own.

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30 Days of Sound, #7

Today I played with Mellotron sounds! I’ve been wanting to play with the Mellotron forever and I finally got samples. I only used one note recorded into Flip and it probably would’ve sounded better if I used several. Thanks to Taijiguy for the Mellotron samples!

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30 Days of Sound, #6

I made a thing in Garageband! One thing I like about Garageband is that it has drum kit presets so I don’t have to find drums which sound good together.

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30 Days of Sound, #5

Today I sampled bricks. I wanted to turn them into a beat, but nothing worked out. While playing with it, I discovered a cool laser sound and a weird note slide riser thingy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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30 Days of Sound, #4

Today I sampled some car related sounds, like keys and window switches. I also used some of the stock samples provided in Flip (the clap, guitar chord, and bass note.) It’s really fun recording some of my own samples and then mixing them with samples I couldn’t create myself.

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30 Days of Sound, #3

I’m learning that things can sound like other things. Candlesticks can sound sort of like bells, especially with lots of reverb.

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30 Days of Sound, #2

I wanted to make something lofi today, so I recorded a few guitar chords and played with the settings until it sounded sort of lofi. I thought it’d only take 30 minutes, but I lost all sense of time and spent more like 2 hours.

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30 Days of Sound, #1

Yesterday I got a new music app on my phone: Flip Sampler. I played around with it a bit, and then last night at 1 AM, I couldn’t sleep. So I thought, “time for round two!” I recorded my pillow falling flat, a pillowcase swoosh, a snap, and a lampshade. I played with the sounds…

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Music and Sound Design, #2

I think I’ve partially figured it out. I’ve been approaching music with my brain and I need to use my heart. Good and bad are concepts from the brain and I don’t need them right now. What I need is freedom to explore and just have fun with it. So I’m going with my heart;…

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Music and Sound Design

I want to get more into music production and sound design. It’s hard for me to give myself permission to be bad at music. I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve seen to much judgement passed, too many songs rejected. I have too much of an idea that music needs to be correct. In fact, the…

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Playing “Portal”, #3

I’ve been playing through the advanced maps. I want to play Portal 2, but I’m also happy with where the story is right now. I love the end song and the sense of completion, especially if I ignore Valve’s change to the ending.

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Playing “Portal”, #2

Today I played Portal again. I noticed more things this time and I want to play it again xD

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Playing “Portal”

I just finished playing Portal. I had a great time and I want to play it again. It’s very focused and it feels like traditional game design. I haven’t played Portal 2 yet, and knowing that Valve has no intention of making Portal 3 makes me want to value every minute. This isn’t the first…

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Year 1

So, we finally arrived: Cheese is a Traffic Signal’s first birthday! Let’s review some stats, shall we?

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Resting, #30

This is it: the end of the 30 days. In these end-of-series posts, I usually showcase the things I’ve made. This time there isn’t much to show. I’ve made progress toward learning how to rest, but that isn’t something I can photograph or turn into a looping GIF. I think that’s a good thing, though.…

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Resting, #29

I’m slowly starting to make stuff again. I’m in a new groove. The experience of creating isn’t as draining as it was before. I’m a lot more relaxed and less focused on results. When I have fire, I burn through every problem. But when I step back, sometimes the problems take care of themselves.

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